



'w'VL 







Glass E2i4 

Book lL^ 



2Zd 



AN 



ORATION 



DELIVERED 



IN LEXINGTON, lA 



JULY 4, 1838 



BY JOHN ADDISON, M. D 



BALTIMORE: 



JOHN W. WOODS, PRINTER 




A^.'^ 



^ Lexington, Juli/ 5, 1838. 

-^ John Addison, M. D. 

:i Dear Sir : The undersigned take much pleasure 

'^ ill expressing to you the gratification which they, and your fellow 

cr=^ citizens generally, derived from the very handsome manner in ' 

J which you discharged the duty they had assigned you, and they 

i would respectfully solicit a copy of your Oration for publication. 

J J. V. WHITE, 

MICHAEL SWOPE, 
W. TRUELOCK, 
SAM'L RANKIN, 
E. G. ENGLISH, 
S. S. HEATH, 
JOHN HARROD, 
R. H. WILSON. 



Lexington, July 5, 1838. 
Gentlemen : 

In reply to your note of this morning, I have only 
to say, that I do not feel at liberty to decline the request which you 
have made in so compHmentary a manner, and that the oration is 
at your service. 

I am, gentlemen, with high consideration, your friend and fel- 
low citizen, 

JOHN ADDISON. 
J. V. White, Esq. 
M. SwoPE, " 

Wm. Truelock, " 
J. Harrod, " 

Sam'l Rankin, " 
E. G. English, " 
S. S. Heath, " 
R. H. Wilson, " 



ORATION. 



Fellow Citizens : 

It is with the utmost diffidence I attempt 
the performance of the duty, to which I have been 
called by your kindness and courtesy, and I have to 
regret that the partiality which selected me as your 
speaker, had not been directed to an abler individual. 
This regret,, however, is diminished by the reflection 
that I address an enlightened, liberal, and sympathetic 
audience — an audience that will bear in mind it be- 
longs not to my avocation to address public assemblies, 
and that will throw the mantle of charity over my 
faults. 

This day, hallowed in the recollection of every 
American, has been consecrated to our national inde- 
pendence. It is the day on which we commemorate 
the heroic achievements, the toils, and sufferings of 
our gallant forefathers, and engage in the discussion 



of topics connected with our revolutionary history, 
and repubhcan institutions. Its annual return is 
every where ushered in with acclamations of triumph, 
while the thunder of artillery, reverberating through 
every state, proclaims to the world, that we are united, 
independent and free. 

When we reflect on the mutability of all human insti- 
tutions, when we contemplate the number of states and 
empires which have successively risen, and dechned, 
and passed away, some of them, even since the forma- 
tion of our own happy constitution, we are led to in- 
dulge in feelings ofgratulation, that our destinies have 
been cast in this happy land, and to render our acknowl- 
edgements to the Great Ruler of the universe, who has 
continued to us so long a career of prosperity and happi- 
ness. After the lapse of more than threescore years 
from the period of our poHtical birth, our country is 
found in a state of unrivalled prosperity, and exhibits 
her republican institutions flourishing in all their pris- 
tine strength and beauty. What were the opinions en- 
tertained by the politicians of Europe, at that time, re- 
specting the durability of our government ? Our con- 
federacy they averred was based on a foundation of sand, 
which would be speedily swept away by popular tem- 
pests, the inseparable attendants on all free govern- 



ments, as footprints on the shores of a sandy desert 
which are obliterated by the waves of the ocean. It 
was asserted that our bright inheritance, this fair re- 
public, for which the sages toiled and our patriot fa- 
thers bled, would speedily go to ruin, that our country 
would exhibit a scene of anarchy, licentiousness, and 
civil war; that it would open a theatre, on which 
the political intriguer and military chief, would act 
their schemes of ambition; and, finally, that we 
should be separated into a number of petty and 
tyrannical principalities, or reduced under a single 
despotism as absolute as that of Russia. To the 
, American, whose bosom throbs with one generous 
emotion of patriotism, it must be an exulting consid- 
eration, that the history of our country has falsified 
these predictions, and wiped away the foul aspersion 
that mankind are incapable of self-government. 

Since the formation of the Federal Constitution, our 
country has enjoyed an almost uninterrupted career of 
prosperity ; and she has risen to her present state of 
grandeur and importance, with a rapidity unparalleled 
in the history of nations. Wherever we direct our 
view the most agreeable prospect is presented. We 
not only enjoy the blessings of peace, but our relations 
with the principal nations of the earth are of the most 



8 

amicable character. Our hardy yeomanry, devoted 
to agricuhural pursuits, draw a rich supply from the 
soil, and are every where prosperous and happy ; the 
manufactures of our country are in a thriving condi- 
tion ; commerce flourishes ; our flag waves proudly 
over every sea ; our ports are crowded with the pro- 
ducts of every clime. 

When we survey the grandeur of our condition, and 
contemplate the rapidity with which we have risen to 
an important consideration among nations, it is natural 
to take a retrospect of our past history, and retrace 
the steps by which we have ascended to our present 
elevation. Little more than three centuries have 
rolled away, since this immense continent was an un- 
discovered wilderness — when this happy country, 
now teeming with animation and business, and this 
day resounding with festivity and joy, slept in the 
silence of the forest ; and it has been comparatively but a 
short time — it is in the memory of your fathers — when 
this great valley of the Mississippi, now crowded with 
an active and enterprising population, was a gloomy 
desert, where the wild flower wasted its fragrance on 
the passing gale, and naught disturbed the stillness of 
the scene, save the shrill yell of the wandering sav- 
age, or the terrific bowlings of the beast of prey. 



But in contemplating this period, the imagination is 
too apt to revel amid its own creations. Fancy loves 
to rove through unfrequented solitudes, to gaze on 
the crystal stream, as it pursues it meandering course, 
and silently glides to the ocean, to portray the savage 
reclining on its mossy banks, or pursuing his journey 
through the pathless desert. But it is not my inten- 
tion to retrace the events of our early history ; I shall 
proceed to the immediate consideration of the revolu- 
tion. 

Whether the people of the American colonies pos- 
sessed the right to dissolve the political ties which 
connected them with the mother country, can be re- 
garded, now, only as a question for idle discussion. 
That they possessed the prerogative of revolution, in 
common with the rest of mankind, will be admitted 
by all ; and that they would exercise that prerogative 
and form a government for themselves, will appear 
probable to any who will reflect that they were an en- 
terprising race of men, deeply imbued with the prin- 
ciples of English liberty, and tenacious of the rights of 
freemen. But besides this, they were, to some extent, 
an educated people. They had read the story of the 
great and the good — of all whose heroic deeds had 
shed a lustre on their respective ages and nations. 



10 

On the page of history, which records the statesman's 
and the warrior's glory, they beheld, blazing in char- 
acters of light, the names of Miltiades and Aristides, 
of Themistocles and Leonidas, of Epaminondas, of 
Demosthenes and Phocion, of Brutus, of Cicero and 
Cato, of Alfred, of Tell, of Wallace, and a thousand 
others, whose eloquence in the senate, and whose 
arms in the field, had been exerted in defence of the 
rights and liberties of man. They were not insensi- 
ble to their rising importance, and conscious of their 
right to a name and a place among the nations of the 
earth, they entertained the idea of a distinct nation- 
ality, an idea which was most congenial with their 
feelings. A government of their own, free from for- 
eign trammel, and independent of all others was what 
they desired, and to make that government honorable 
was the high aim of their ambition. Attracted by the 
brilliant galaxy of worthies that shone on the historic 
page, they were fired with ambition, to rival the fame 
of the Alexanders and Caesars of former ages, and 
invest their country with a glory, resplendent as the 
halo that blazed round Athens and Rome. 

Although the right of revolution is recognized in 
any nation that can vindicate it by, the sword, yet was 
that entered into by the solemn resolution of the 



11 

American colonies, further justified by their situation 
and the circumstances by which they were surround- 
ed. Oppressed by the government of Great Britain 
in the appointment of offensive rulers, and in the re- 
fusal of a representation in the body that made the 
laws by which they were governed, they were driven 
to revolution as the only means by which they might 
obtain relief. Determined to resist the oppressive 
measures of their foreign rulers, a sufficient cause for 
actual separation and open hostilities was not long 
wanting. The colonies, rapidly increasing in wealth 
and importance, attracted the attention of England, 
then involved in a heavy debt, to the liquidation of 
which they determined to make the colonies contrib- 
ute, and which was to be effected by a species of 
taxation created by the Stamp Act. The illustrious 
Adams asserted as a principle, by which his own ac- 
tions were regulated, that it was the "privilege of 
British subjects, that their property could not be taken 
from them, but by an authority in which they were 
represented." The Americans having no represen- 
tation in the parliament enacting the law of taxation, 
and contending for the right conferred by the Magna 
Charta of England, resisted its execution. This act 
was soon followed by another, levying duties on tea. 



12 

The fire of opposition now flamed forth with additional 
fury, and every thing tended to hostilities. A cloud 
of war overshadowed the land, and vengeance thun- 
dered from the capital of England. The fleets of 
Great Britain whitened our coasts — her armies covered 
our shores ; but these had no terrors for men who had 
resolved to conquer or die in defence of the rights 
and privileges of freemen. The country arose as one 
man — one purpose animated every American bosom. 
The standard of liberty was every where erected — 
the banner of war was unfurled to the breeze. The 
cry of the Americans was — "Liberty or Death." 
This motto, borne on her standards, and proclaimed 
from her halls, re-echoed over a thousand green hills. 
Without detailing the events of the revolution, it may 
be sufl[icient to say, we fought, and after a protracted 
contest, we conquered. The bones of our enemies 
bleach on our shores — the haughty Briton sleeps be- 
neath the stormy Atlantic. 

This period was prolific of great characters, but one 
among the rest shone pre-eminently. It was George 
Washington, the great and the good, the Father of 
his Country; one of whom it was emphatically and 
justly said, "he was first in war,^ first in peace, and 
first in the hearts of his countrymen." Few of the 



13 

illustrious men, whose names have shone on the page 
of history, can be compared to him. He was unlike 
other great men. He possessed their virtues and 
was free from their faults. He was not formed for 
the conquest of kingdoms, but for the liberation of 
his country. A contemporary has remarked, that "his 
mind was great and powerful." He was, however, 
chiefly remarkable for his prudence; and for this virtue, 
he had received the distinguishing appellation of the 
American Fabius. Like that celebrated Roman, 
whose prudent -conduct saved Rome, by enabling his 
dispirited countrymen to keep the field against the 
victorious Hannibal, he effected the emancipation of 
his country by his cautious generalship, thereby en- 
abling his undisciplined troops to cope with British 
veterans. But this was not all: to prudence and 
bravery, he united a patriotism which sacrificedev ery 
thing to the welfare of his country. After conduct- 
ing us through a protracted war, and restoring us to 
victory and peace, he sought, not like other conquer- 
ors, his own aggrandizement, but, Cincinnatus-like, 
retired to his farm, where, in the shade of private life, 
he enjoyed a peace which crowns and sceptres could 
never bestow. Every true hearted American must 
honor the hero whose deeds and character have shed 



14 

such lustre on the American name. In the affections 
of the free, his memory shall long be enshrined; suc- 
ceeding generations shall cherish it, and it shall be 
delivered down from sire to son, a treasure of which 
the latest posterity may be proud. And not only in 
his own land, which his glorious achievements have 
made the bright heritage of liberty, shall his name 
and character be venerated. The free of all lands 
shall remember him with pride, and he shall be re- 
garded by all ages, not only as the champion of 
American rights, but as the benefactor of the world. 
And if the names of successful monarchists, who have 
subverted the liberties of mankind, and deluged the 
earth with blood for selfish ends, — if their names have 
been rendered immortal, what shall be the award of 
him who emancipated the American people from the 
thraldom of civil oppression, and made them a free and 
independent nation ? In the peril of his fortune and 
his life, he accomplished deeds which present him 
before the world the most illustrious of men. Having 
conquered the oppressor, he occupied, while living, 
the summit of human fame, and, in dying, bequeathed 
to his countrymen the proud heritage of freedom, with 
the noblest institutions on earth. What then shall be 
done to the hero who has won for us such a meed 



15 

of glory and renown ? He is entitled to golden hon- 
ors. A crown of everduring fame shall glitter on his 
brows, when the laurels of an Alexander shall have 
withered away, and the mausoleum of a Napoleon 
shall have mouldered into ruin. His name, written in 
letters of fire on the records of immortality, shall con- 
tinue to blaze, with inextinguishable splendor, the 
admiration of ages and ages to come. 

It was at the commencement of the arduous con- 
test, that the Declaration to which you have so atten- 
tively listened, was published to the world. What the 
feelings of our revolutionary fathers were who sub- 
scribed the instrument, cannot be gathered from the an- 
nals of the day nor conceived by us, who enjoy the 
blessings of liberty, independence, and happiness, pur- 
chased by their toils, and sufferings and blood. Sur- 
rounded by perils, and while the thunder of British can- 
non at Lexington and Bunker hill, and the cries of their 
expiring countrymen, still sounded in their ears, they 
entered on the untried path of revolution, a path dark 
and thorny, and beset with continual dangers, and on 
which they saw, in the prospect before them, a horizon 
deeply overcast with portentous omens ; a scene with 
the scaffold at its termination, attended by all the dread 
ignominy which awaits a traitor's doom. I say a 



16 

traitor's doom, for if our revolution had been unsuc- 
cessful, the actors in the scene, instead of being cel- 
ebrated as the champions of liberty, would have been 
compelled to expiate the crime of treason by the dis- 
graceful death of the halter. According to the theory 
of monarchists, success in revolution makes a patriot- 
defeat a traitor. The experiments of Wallace and 
Washington were, in many respects, the same, though 
one died upon the scaffold, while the other secured a 
brilliant triumph for the cause he had espoused. 

In the language of the first American Congress, they 
had "counted the cost of the contest, and found nothing 
so dreadful as voluntary slavery." They had ^'deter- 
mined to cast the die which should separate them from 
England." After enumerating the causes which had 
impelled them to the separation, and which are so ad- 
mirably set forth in the Declaration read in your hear- 
ing, they declare, that they, the "representatives in 
Congress assembled, appealing to the Supreme Judge 
of the world for the rectitude of their intentions, do, in 
the name, and by the authority of the good people of 
these colonies, solemnly publish and declare, that 
these united colonies, are, and of right ought to be, 
free and independent states, that they are absolved 
from all allegiance to the British crown ; and that all 



17 



political connection, between them and the state of 
Great Britain is, and ought to be, totally dissolved ; 
and that as free and independent states they have full 
power to levy war, conclude peace, contract allian- 
ces, establish commerce, and do all other acts and 
things, which independent states may of right do." 

What have been the advantages resulting to our 
country from the publication of this document to the 
world ? Let our republican institutions and the pros- 
perity they have produced, answer the question. 
Those institutions are built upon the foundation of 
freedom, and they guarantee to us the blessings of 
civil and religious liberty. The American people en- 
joy those blessings in a greater degree than any other 
nation on earth ; and the prosperity resulting from 
them is without a parallel in the historyof the world. 
Our government recognises all men as equal in civil 
and political rights. Each citizen is a sovereign, 
whose supremacy is exercised in the elective fran- 
chise. In the choice of the officers of the government, 
he enjoys the privilege of participating in the enact- 
ment of the laws by which his own conduct is regu- 
lated ; he has a part in making the very laws to which 
he submits, and the code by which the people are 
governed is the result of their own act, each operating 



18 

as an individual sovereign. And where is the nation 
besides our own that can boast of such equality of right 
and privilege for its citizens ? There is none. And 
in the operation of our republican system, every re- 
ligion is tolerated. The manner in which he shall wor- 
ship God is committed to the conscience of every A mer- 
ican citizen. The Christian, the Jew, and even the 
Mahomedan, were he among us, could engage in such 
services as are consistent with their respective creeds. 
Such are the effects of our free institutions in their 
practical operation. And what has been the result of 
that operation in the production of individual and na- 
tional prosperity? Cast your eyes backward and take 
a retrospect of the prosperity we have enjoyed since 
our government was settled by the formation of the 
Federal Constitution. Compare your own condition 
with those of the governments of Europe. Look at 
that slave of a despot, crouching at the footstool of 
Turkish or Russian tyranny. Take a view even of 
the condition of England, groaning under the burden 
of taxation, giving the proceeds of her industry to 
support the pride of an oppressive nobility, the dissi- 
pations of a profligate clergy, the pomp and splendor 
of a throne : and then return to your own country. 
Look at the prosperity which every where prevails. 



19 

View our population increasing, and our territories 
widening, promising to extend the blessings of civili- 
zation from the Atlantic to the Pacific shores. To 
the eyes of the patriot the country presents a gratify- 
ing spectacle. Cities rivalling in magnificence the 
capitals of Europe, and located on every eligible site, 
are seen rearing their white steeples to the admiration 
of the approaching mariner, as America rises to view. 
Towns and villages, teeming with animation and busi- 
ness, are scattered over every part of our country ; 
their gilded spires glitter in the sun-hght and excite 
the admiration of the passing traveller. Rail-roads 
and canals, those stupendous monuments of human 
genius and enterprise, are constructed through th'e 
principal states. They tend to reconcile conflicting 
interests by binding together parts of the Union re- 
mote from each other. The sails of our commerce 
whiten every sea, and the products of our agricultural 
and manufacturing industry find a market in every 
country throughout the civilized world. 

But these are not the only advantages resulting 
from our liberal institutions. In their operation on 
our national character they have elevated us to a high 
place among the nations of the earth. We have a 
national fame of which every American may be proud. 
The ensign of our republic is respected wherever it 



20 

is unfurled. Our national character is honored as far 
as civilization extends. In our struggle for independ- 
ence against the giant arm of Great Britain, we con- 
quered ere we were known as a nation; and in our 
second encounter, when the same colossal power, 
sending her fleets and armies over the ocean, sought 
to enslave the young Hercules of liberty, which she 
had vainly essayed to strangle in the cradle, we came 
out of the contest, not only unscathed, but gloriously 
triumphant. The lion of Great Britain crouched be- 
fore the eagle of our country. The armies of England, 
which had vanquished the conqueror of Europe, were 
obliged to yield before the valor of our citizen soldiers ; 
and her navy, whose sails had spotted every ocean, 
and whose flag had floated in triumph over every part 
of the globe, was compelled to submit to our naval 
prowess, and transfer to her youthful rival the glory 
of being mistress of the seas. In both wars American 
valor was emblazoned on the rolls of fame, and it will 
be perpetuated to the latest generations. 

But we must not confine ourselves to the bright side 
of the picture. Although the stability of our govern- 
ment has, hitherto, disappointed the advocates of roy- 
alty — although our country has' enjoyed, for a series 
of years, a state of unparalleled prosperity; and 
although she is still great, happy, and free, yet, there 



21 

are those among us who have fears for the future. 
We, however, fellow-citizens, can see no cause for 
alarm. Events have occurred to shake the confi- 
dence of some of our countrymen in the perpetuity 
of our institutions. It has, indeed, been with re- 
gret and mortification, that we have witnessed the sec- 
tional jealousy, the partizan fury, the rancor of feeling, 
which have every where prevailed, and which have 
furnished cause of triumph to the enemies of free 
governments. There was a time when things began 
to wear a serious, an alarming aspect. The crisis 
approached — it arrived ; but the cloud which darkened 
our southern horizon, and dimmed the lustre of our 
national character, was dispersed by the light of re- 
turning reason ; the storm which thundered at a dis- 
tance, and threatened destruction to our liberties, 
passed harmlessly by, while the stars of our Union, 
struggling through the gloom by which they were 
enshrouded, broke again on the vision in all their ori- 
ginal brilliancy and glory. 

From a great majority of the American people we 
have nothing to fear. They know too well how to 
appreciate the blessings of liberty and independence, 
purchased by the blood and sufferings of their fathers ; 
and they entertain the laudable desire to transmit 
them, unimpaired, to their children. 



22 

We should do all in our power to preserve our in- 
stitutions in their purity. We should do this, and 
leave the event to an overruling Providence, in whose 
hands are the destinies of mankind, and without whose 
aid human exertions will contribute nothing to the 
stability of our government. Left to themselves, na- 
tions as well as individuals, are of short duration. 
Like the flower which blooms for a while and withers 
away, or the rainbow that glitters for an hour upon 
the cloud, they pass from existence, and are forgotten 
or remembered only as events before the flood. This 
is exemplified in the Egyptian, in the Assyrian, in the 
Grecian, and the Roman governments. And may I 
ask where are the ancient Egyptian, the Assyrian, the 
Grecian, and the Roman governments ? After a brief 
existence they passed away, leaving behind them a 
few melancholy memorials, employed by after ages 

"Only to point a moral or adorn a tale." 

And the greatest of warriors that ever deluged the 
earth with blood — what was their fate ? After a short 
career in which they dazzled the world by the splen- 
dor of their achievements, and carried desolation over 
the greater part of the globe, they withered from ex- 
istence, as much the objects of the execration as the 
admiration of their race. Alexander the Great died 
from the effects of intemperance ; Hannibal committed 



23 

suicide ; Julius Caesar fell by the hands of violence ; 
and Napoleon — what was his fate? For many years 
he was a prisoner on a barren island in the Atlantic 
ocean. And where is he now ? 

"The surges rave. 
And beat tumultuous round his rocky cave," 

The only monument left to perpetuate the memory of 
a man who overturned the greatest of monarchies and 
spread terror over the habitable globe. 

It is the duty of every man who enjoys the benefits 
of our happy government to devote his energies to its 
service. As the permanency of all free governments 
must depend on the virtue and intelligence of the 
people, we should avail ourselves of every means, 
which a wise and beneficent Creator has afforded, for 
enlightening the public mind and improving the moral 
condition of the people. We should encourage pub- 
lic schools, where children should be instructed in the 
nature of our institutions, and be made acquainted 
with the advantages they enjoy compared with the 
other nations of the earth. The numerous associations 
which have been organized for the dissemination of 
knowledge and the promotion of virtue, all tend to 
improve the moral and intellectual condition of the 
people, and they should receive from us a cordial and 
liberal support. 



24 

But we should promote the welfare of our country, 
not only by contributing to the moral and intellectual 
culture of her sons. It is our duty to stand forth in 
her defence whenever her liberties are menaced by a 
foreign or domestic foe ; and we should recollect that 
we hold our lives only on the high and glorious ten- 
ure, of delivering them up whenever the sacrifice may 
be demanded by our country. 

My fellow-citizens : Our forefathers have bequeath- 
ed to us a country vast in extent and unsurpassed in 
grandeur and beauty by any other on earth. They 
have bequeathed to us a free and liberal government 
founded upon the principles of enlightenment and 
truth, and free institutions worthy of their exalted 
names and characters. The trust is a fearful one. It 
is our duty to sustain in all their excellence and purity 
the proud government we hold in possession, and the 
noble institutions that render it so gloriously free. To 
perpetuate the inheritance and deliver it to posterity 
a treasure as valuable as we received it, we must pos- 
sess the spirit that gave it existence. Let us then 
cultivate the patriotism that burned in the bosoms of 
our venerated sires, and let us swear by the blood that 
was shed to make us free, that our freedom shall be 
delivered to a succeeding generation, nothing tarnish- 
ed in the using, but brightened and beautified by its 
having passed through our hands. 



^ 



